Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter 25. We're gonna cover all 40 verses this morning. And my friend Kate the Great said, keep it interesting. I was like, I'll do my best. You know, this is one of those texts that you read on your own in your devotional time. And you're like, I'm not real sure what to do with this.
[00:00:21] And so my goal this morning is to help us become better Bible readers. That you read a text like this and it's a bunch of instruct how to build things out of gold and how that's to be done. And you're like, should I do that?
[00:00:37] And the answer's like, I mean, if you have the gold, maybe. But no, that's not. The purpose of this text is that we would construct these articles of furniture that were then gonna go into the tabernacle. That's not what this is for. And so how do we get to.
[00:00:54] What do we do with this? That if we truly believe that all of God's Word is profitable for us. And so that's why we teach through books of the Bible. We as a. As a pastor, listen, I can pick some texts that I know will speak to you guys, and then you find a text like this, and you're like, well, this is pretty interesting. I gotta try and keep them awake, right? But I hope what you see through this this morning is that, man, there's so much depth and richness to digging in to God's word.
[00:01:31] I had a professor one time at seminary that said it's the job of the pastor to go deep enough to find the treasure in his study, and yet he has to come back up to the top where no one ever sees it.
[00:01:44] And so the goal is that we would dig deep into. Wait, what is this saying? What does this mean?
[00:01:50] Like, why is this there?
[00:01:53] And that then as we bring up the wisdom of God from his Word, we go, oh, that impacts my life and how I live. That truth impacts what I believe and what I do. That the wisdom of God would guide us and lead us as the story of the Bible unfolds. You see, God create a place for his people that he could dwell with them. And so in Genesis, we see Adam and Eve in the garden and God in their midst. The scripture says that often that he's in their midst, that he dwells with his people.
[00:02:33] But then because of sin, we see this separation happen. And so we begin to have to ask this question, how can a holy God dwell with sinful people?
[00:02:43] And yet that's what we get to in the book of Exodus is that God has not given up on his people. He said, I'm going to make a way where I can dwell with my people. And so we saw that Egypt was in slavery, or Israel was in slavery to Egypt. And so they're in bondage.
[00:03:02] The goal was not just that God would rescue them from their bondage, that they would be free from their slavery. No, that wasn't the goal. Their goal was that God would dwell in their midst, that they could come into the desert to Mount Sinai to worship me, to be with God.
[00:03:21] And so it's the same truth for us that the goal is not just that God would free you from that addiction, that he would free you from that sin, that he would free you from your bondage to slavery and sin. That's not the end that just gets you to the place of fellowship with God, that He would rescue you from that in order that you might flourish and live and dwell in his presence with Him.
[00:03:49] That's the goal. And so we see this as it's unfolding. We're at this question where how does God dwell with his people? They've come to Mount Sinai. He's rescued them. He's brought them into the desert, to the mountain. And we saw last week that this mountain, which vertically climbed up, was a grading holiness or a progressive holiness, that the people were at the bottom.
[00:04:11] And then in order to come up the mountain a little bit, we saw that you had to have a mediator and you had to have a substitute in order to come up the mountain, up closer to the holiness of God. And so the elders, they come up the mountain a little bit, and there were bulls and goats that had given their life. There's specifically two bulls that had given their life in order to pay the penalty for God's people to come up the mountain. And so we actually see right there that it says that God ate and drank with them, that he was in their midst.
[00:04:47] Then we see even further that now Moses goes up actually into the cloud. He and Joshua go up. He says, joshua, you can't come any farther. Then he actually goes into the cloud, into the very holy of holies, the presence of God.
[00:05:01] If we take that, I set it up last week. If you take that and you lay it down sideways, we begin to see this progression in what was the tabernacle or temple, that God lays out this progression of how to come into his presence. And so we're going to get some instruction. And what we see in this is that this is a 40 days and 40 nights conversation. Moses is up in the mountain and he stays there 40 days and 40 nights. And what we see in the next few chapters is the conversation that Moses has with God while he's up on the mountain for 40 days. What's going to happen is he comes down, we have big problems, and then we actually see the people begin to obey what God had told Moses. That's the rest of the book of Exodus. And so that's where we're going. We're going to hear some things on repeat a little bit, but this is where we're going.
[00:05:56] What I would really love for us to get out of this is I believe there's five aspects of the character of God that we can learn as we look at the tabernacle. That there's five aspects of the character of God as we get this instruction that we can learn about him, of who he is and what he does on our behalf. Would you pray with me this morning and then we'll jump into this.
[00:06:24] Lord, we are desperately dependent on you to open our eyes and our ears. Lord, we believe that your word is profitable for us.
[00:06:32] And so as we dive into your word, Lord, we pray that it might bear fruit in our life, Lord, that you might revive truth that maybe we haven't believed, or that we've believed falsely about things and lies, Lord, that you would correct us in that, Lord, in order that we might believe you, in order that we might walk with you as your people. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:58] Well, let's look at this beginning in verse one.
[00:07:01] These five different aspects are going to coincide with what we see in each one of these sections. Verse 1 through 9 says this. The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel, that they take from me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him. You shall receive the contribution from me.
[00:07:24] And this is the contribution that you shall receive from gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarns and fine twilled linen, goat's hair, tanned ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and and for all its furniture. So you shall make it so. We see Moses goes up and the first thing that God tells Moses to do is actually to take up an offering. So the Ushers will come forward. They'll begin passing the plates. I'm just kidding.
[00:08:10] It is interesting, though, that the first thing, the first response that God offers an outlet for the people out of the overflow of their heart. You see it in there, that every man whose heart moves him shall make this contribution. That this is not out of guilt. This is not out of trying to manipulate God. This is out of a response to the fact that a holy God has rescued and freed them from slavery and brought them into a place and is keeping all of his promises, that he has redeemed them, that he dwells with them, that he's made a way for them. That in response to that, they go, it's yours.
[00:08:51] This is generosity because they've been shown generosity.
[00:08:56] This is generosity of an overflow of what God has provided for them. Many of the things which you see here are actually elements which they would have brought with them out of Egypt because God had provided for them as they left Egypt. He said, you're going to plunder the Egyptians. That God's. The plagues which God brought against the Egyptians caused the Egyptians to go, take it all and just leave, please.
[00:09:24] And so they took gold and silver and bronze and fine linens, and they took all of these things as they left Egypt, as the Egyptians kicked them out.
[00:09:35] And now, in response to the gracious salvation God has provided that says the people can offer it back to me what I gave to them, they now turn back in praise to me.
[00:09:53] The character that we see in this is that there is a God who wants to dwell with his people.
[00:10:00] There is a God who wants to dwell with his people. Why were they giving all of these things? There's actually seven different kind of groupings that move from greater value to lesser value. We've got gold, silver and bronze. Those are all different metals. We've got blue, purple and scarlet yarns. And so those things would have been of great value as they dyed those things, that there would have been great value there. Then we see the goat's hair and the tanned ram skins and goat skins. And there's some other skins that they're not really sure what animals they come from there. Your Bible might have a little note of that. Acacia wood, which would have been around them. They would have been able to gather that as they go. Oil for the lamps, spices for anointing, fragrant incense, onyx stones, all these different things. Ephod, breastplate, please. Like, what is this all for?
[00:10:48] We get the purpose in verse 8.
[00:10:51] What is this offering for?
[00:10:53] Let them make me a sanctuary.
[00:10:56] That word sanctuary is a holy place. Let them make for me a holy place. That a holy God can dwell in a holy place among his people, that I may dwell in their midst.
[00:11:10] That God wanted to dwell with his people. In order for a holy God to dwell among his sinful people, he needed a holy place to dwell.
[00:11:20] And so God desired to be worshiped through these material means, these material means that sustained the people on their day to day life. That these were everyday things that were then given in order that God might dwell in their midst in a holy place.
[00:11:44] The goal was for him to be with them.
[00:11:47] But verse nine gives us some instruction. Because it's not just do it however you want. It's not just, well, your intentions are good. No, there was a specific, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, that you could only come to God and build this on the terms that God had already said. Because he has a plan.
[00:12:11] He knows where they're going, he knows what they need, he knows what these things are going to symbolize and point to. And so it had to be on his terms. You can't come to God on your own terms. Listen, we live in a culture that says, well, I love God, I worship God, but I want to do it on my own terms.
[00:12:32] I want to do it how I want to do it. I don't want to have to obey anybody, I don't want to submit to anybody, I don't want to follow anyone else's instructions. And God just very clearly tells Moses, listen, out of the overflow of their heart, there ought to be a response of generosity.
[00:12:48] But it still has to fall in line with the instruction I have given them. Why?
[00:12:55] Because God's ways are best.
[00:12:58] Because he knows us. Because he knows what is best. And he knows the path of flourishing for us. He created us and he knows what's best for us. Left to our own devices, we mess it up all the time.
[00:13:11] He says, you just go dream it up however you want. You're gonna mess it up. We're gonna see that in a few chapters. The people took it upon themselves on how to worship God. And he said, no, that's not pleasing to me.
[00:13:23] They needed to do it according to his way that God dwells with his people. That's the goal. When we think about this reality, it points us forward to something.
[00:13:35] When you flip to John chapter one, verse 14, it's an interesting passage that we see here that as we begin to see, okay, God wants to dwell among his people. We read in John 1:14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[00:13:56] That God didn't just dwell in a tent.
[00:14:01] No, he condescended and came, being born of a man, that he dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son, from the Father, full of grace and truth, that the goal is that God would dwell among his people and that he has made a way for that to happen not through a tent, but through His Son.
[00:14:30] The tent was the shadow of things to come, that he would make a way through His Son for us to dwell in his midst.
[00:14:39] The second thing that we see in this text, the second aspect, the verse, is that God dwells with his people. The second is that God speaks to his people. That this is a God who speaks to his people. Look at verse 10.
[00:14:53] Says they shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half, its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. Now, so that some of y' all can move past that, what that actually turns out to is two and a half feet by two and a half feet by three and a half feet. All right, so we got this Chester Drawers, right? We've got this box that is going to be built, and it's built out of acacia wood. And then look at verse 11. That you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside.
[00:15:24] So think of like pretty awesome treasure chest, right? Like this is a box which is overlaid inside and outside with gold.
[00:15:34] Verse 12.
[00:15:35] You shall cast four rings for the gold for it and put them on its four feet. Two rings on one side and two on the other rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it. Okay, so we've got instruction that we've got this box that's overlaid with gold. It's got four rings on it. It's got poles that are push through those rings that are also covered with gold. And we go, why look, we get a purpose.
[00:16:17] Verse 16.
[00:16:18] And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you, that into the ark, into this gold box with poles will go a testimony.
[00:16:31] What's this testimony? The testimony that actually we find out that goes into the ark is the. That the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the Ten words which God speaks to his people are going to go in there that God has spoken.
[00:16:46] This is the path of flourishing. This is life for you.
[00:16:51] What else goes into the Ark of the Covenant is Aaron's staff. This is a staff, which we'll find out about later, that is cut off. It's just a stick. And yet God, he speaks to this stick and it buds it of that which was dead, that God can speak and bring things to life, that he speaks and creation obeys him.
[00:17:19] What else goes in this ark? The third thing that goes in there is there's a jar of manna, this bread which comes from heaven, which God sends to sustain his people, that he speaks and provides for his people.
[00:17:37] You got ten commandments. Aaron's staff and manna all go inside this ark. But it's interesting, this ark, the way it's built. It's built to be mobile.
[00:17:47] Like, that's why the poles are there. That's why there's so much about the rings. We're gonna find out a little bit more about a table that's supposed to be moved as well, that this is something that's supposed to be mobile.
[00:17:58] I drive a truck, which means that when people move, they call.
[00:18:03] Some of y' all know that, right? It's even worse if you have a trailer, right? It's like, hey, we're moving in this day. They didn't have you all.
[00:18:14] They didn't have trucks and trailers. And so how would they have moved from one place to the next? God's already told them, I'm taking you to a land, and you will push out all of these Canaanites and Hittites and Perizzites and all of these people. You will push them out a little at a time as you go.
[00:18:33] And so how are they going to move?
[00:18:35] They're going to walk.
[00:18:37] And so in order to take what might be a portable Mount Sinai, the place where God's presence dwells, in order to take that with them, it needed to be able to move, but it was to remind them that God speaks.
[00:18:58] We get to Matthew, chapter 17, verse 5 in the New Testament, and we hear something pretty interesting.
[00:19:10] It's after the transfiguration where Jesus has been transfigured before Peter and James and John. And there's a voice that comes from heaven and says, and he was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice, cloud said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I'm well pleased.
[00:19:32] Listen to him that he speaks.
[00:19:37] And that what Jesus speaks is of great value to us because it's life.
[00:19:45] That his rules are not a burden to us because they lead us to flourishing into life, that he's seeking to protect us from that which would lead us astray into pain and hurt and destruction. And you and I have experienced that in our life, right?
[00:20:01] We've experienced the brokenness of sin, of relationships because of sin.
[00:20:09] And yet Jesus speaks just like the testimony inside the ark of the covenant.
[00:20:18] The third thing that we see in this text, if you'll flip back to Exodus, is we see this idea of a mercy seat. We get incredible instruction about this. Look at verse 17.
[00:20:32] He says, you shall make this ark of the covenant. And now on this ark of the covenant, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold.
[00:20:40] Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.
[00:20:45] And you shall make two cherubim of gold. These are angels of hammered work. Shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seat?
[00:20:55] So you got an angel on each side. Make one cherub on one end and one cherub on the other end.
[00:21:03] But it's of one piece. With the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.
[00:21:10] The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat. With their wings, their faces to one another. Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark.
[00:21:25] And in the ark, you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you.
[00:21:32] And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the Testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in the commandment for the people of Israel. So we see again, okay, on top of this gold box with these poles and rings, then there's to be crafted of one piece. There's this seat that goes on top. And then there's these two angels which are facing each other, and they've got their wings spread out and they're covering this seat that's in the middle.
[00:22:04] And so what is. What's going on here?
[00:22:08] Well, what we see in this is that there is a God who shows mercy to his people.
[00:22:15] Centered on this place where God's presence dwelled is a seat of mercy that even the angels look in on.
[00:22:27] But it's interesting. Look at the purpose that we see in verse 22, that God specifically tells Moses that there I will meet you.
[00:22:37] Where does he meet him?
[00:22:39] In a place of Mercy, that God meets his people at the place of mercy. That this word which the Greeks translated the Old Testament, that was called the Septuagint. And so the word that they used to translate this mercy seat, is a very particular word and it's only used one time in the New Testament.
[00:23:00] It's used in Romans chapter three.
[00:23:03] It gives us some insight into what this mercy seat is for. And so if you want to flip there, or I'm just going to read out of Romans, chapter 3, starting in verse 23, says this. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[00:23:20] That According to the 10 laws, the 10 words which are contained the testimony of God, according to that, everyone falls short.
[00:23:30] Nobody can obey all that.
[00:23:34] Verse 24.
[00:23:35] For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. That word propitiation is the same word that it would be the place which would fully satisfy the wrath of God and extend the mercy of God to his people, that he might meet them at the place of mercy, at the cross where God would meet his people, where a sinful people and a holy God could be brought together at the place of mercy.
[00:24:26] That God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
[00:24:34] That it's received by faith, it's not received by genealogy. It's not received by works of righteousness. It's received by faith that that's where he meets them.
[00:24:47] God meets his people as he shows them mercy.
[00:24:52] We find out in numbers that God meets Moses and speaks to him and continues to instruct Moses.
[00:25:00] As Moses goes into this holy of holies in the tabernacle, and God speaks to him right there. He meets him.
[00:25:12] Because there's mercy.
[00:25:15] The fourth thing that we see in this text as we get to this next furniture within the tabernacle is actually a table.
[00:25:25] But this table, I believe, points us forward to something. It reminds us of the character of God that God provides for his people. So we've seen that God dwells with his people, that God speaks to his people, God shows mercy to his people, and that God provides.
[00:25:44] Look at verse 23 to 30.
[00:25:47] It says, you shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. So this table is going to look like an entryway table or a little coffee table of sorts that this is a small table, and so it's to be built of acacia wood, and then it's to be overlaid with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it, and you shall make a rim around it, a hand breadth wide, and the molding of gold around the rim.
[00:26:18] And you shall make for it four rings of gold again, so that it can be transported.
[00:26:24] Fasten the rings to the corners of the four legs and close to the frame the rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table.
[00:26:33] You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And the table shall be carried with these.
[00:26:39] And you shall make its plates and its dishes for incense and its flagons and its bowls for which to pour drink offerings, and you shall make them of pure gold.
[00:26:49] Verse 30. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.
[00:26:57] So we see that God's given, okay, there's the ark, and then there's the mercy seat on top of the ark. And we've got another piece of furniture that's a table. But this table is special. It's covered in gold. It's supposed to move with the tabernacle. But. But we get the purpose again in verse 30, that this table is to hold the bread of the Presence. And we're like, what in the world is that?
[00:27:19] We find out later from Leviticus that the bread of the Presence is. Is actually. The people would have given an offering of grain to the tabernacle to the priests. The priests would have made bread every week.
[00:27:31] And so this bread would have been made into 12 loaves, which would have represented the 12 tribes of Israel. There's specific instructions about this. It would have been stacked into two stacks of bread, which were set on gold plates on the table. And then there was also some things to either make drink offerings and things like that. So you've got a table set, you got a picture of a feast going on that God would prepare a table.
[00:28:01] Now, again, we've just coming off of the fact that it says that when the elders of Israel ascended in up the mountain, then God ate and drank in their midst, that they sat down and ate together, showing reconciliation, showing that there's no animosity between us because we can share a meal together.
[00:28:25] Catch this.
[00:28:27] And now God says, in the place where I will dwell in your midst, there's always a table prepared.
[00:28:37] There's always a table prepared for you that I desire to meet with you. I desire to be a part of your life, I desire a relationship with you.
[00:28:50] God eating with his people, always a table prepared in their midst. And yet we jump forward to the New Testament and there's a really interesting statement that we find actually in John chapter 6, that Jesus says something which. If any of you guys said this to me, I think you were weird.
[00:29:17] He says this.
[00:29:19] I am the bread of life.
[00:29:23] Bread, the provision which was needed to sustain God's people.
[00:29:31] The provision which is always available in the tabernacle.
[00:29:38] Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
[00:29:42] Whoever comes to me shall never hunger that Jesus provides for his people.
[00:29:51] He sustains his people. If you would come to him, then you would never hunger that God provides for them. And it's in Christ that we have all we need.
[00:30:07] It points us forward even later.
[00:30:10] A table and a place to dine is something that revelation picks up on, and it tells us that he has prepared a table, a wedding feast, a table where his people will dwell and dine.
[00:30:25] And so we see in this gold table that was supposed to be fashioned in such a way that it would travel with them, we see the. The character of God that He provides for his people everything that they need because he desires to dwell with his people.
[00:30:45] Lastly, we get to this last piece of furniture and we find a golden lampstand. What do we understand by this? I believe that the character that we see in this is that God gives light to his people. That God gives light to his people.
[00:31:03] God dwells with his people. God speaks to his people. God shows mercy to his people. God provides for his people, and God gives light to his people. Look at verse 31, says, you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. A lampstand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, its flowers shall be of one piece with it. Now, as a botany major, I was like, come on. Calyx is actually like the little bud underneath the flower. And so you got a picture here of something that these flowers on this lampstand.
[00:31:38] And so there's actually an almond blossom that's gonna be talked about quite a bit. And so we'll make some connections to this in just a second. But you've got this lampstand. And so just in your mind, most throughout Christian history, most have viewed this as a menorah, right? And so you got a singular post that then branches out three on each side. And so this is what we see, verse 32. There shall be six branches going out from its sides, three branches of the lampstand on one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out the other side of it, three cups made like almond blossoms, each with kallaxes and flowers on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with kallaxes and flowers on the other branch.
[00:32:24] So for the six branches going out of the lampstand and on the lampstand itself, there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms with their kallaxes and flowers, and the kallax of one piece with it. Under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand, their kallaxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, and the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make these seven lamps for it. And the lamp shall be set up so that as to give light to the space in front of it. Its tongs and its trains shall be of pure gold. It shall be made with all the utensils out of a talent of pure gold. This is 75 to 100 pounds of gold, is what this land. This is. This is massive. This is heavy.
[00:33:15] You shall make them after the pattern for them which is being shown to you on the mountain.
[00:33:20] Okay, so we get this lamp, but what does this lamp show us? What does it reveal to us? Well, I think there's a couple things as I just dove in and I was like, what's the deal with the almonds, right? What's up with almonds in this? You actually find In Jeremiah, chapter 1, verse 11 and 12 an interesting reference to an almond branch that God gives Jeremiah a vision after Israel is not doing well. And God gives Jeremiah this vision.
[00:33:48] And he says, God says, what do you see? And he says, I see an almond branch.
[00:33:53] It's kind of an odd thing to see.
[00:33:55] He says, you're right.
[00:33:58] He says, for I will keep watch over my word.
[00:34:01] We're like, huh?
[00:34:03] That an almond. Almond is very similar in the Hebrew to the word watch.
[00:34:09] That an almond represents. Watching is what Jeremiah connects for us, is that almonds and watching go together. That where an almond is seen, it should cue in our mind. God watches.
[00:34:25] Well, how does he watch as he brings things into the light?
[00:34:30] That he watches. And Jeremiah specifically says this, that he watches his word, that he always keeps his word, that he makes sure that everything that he promised will come to fruition, that he always keeps his word. And so God watches his word. And so he says, I want you to make this lamp, and you're gonna set it up in the tabernacle where I'm gonna dwell with my people in their midst.
[00:34:56] There's no windows in this tabernacle. And so what brings light into the tabernacle? It's a lamp that reminds the people that God watches His word, that he always keeps his word, and that he will bring it to fruition. Why are.
[00:35:11] Well, they're going to need to be reminded as they travel into the promised land that God is doing what he promised he would do and he will not let us down.
[00:35:21] Listen, this gets exciting because as we flip to John chapter 8 in the New Testament, Jesus again states something it would be strange for most of us to say.
[00:35:40] Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
[00:35:46] This lamp which brings light now we see as a shadow, pointing to the one who would bring light.
[00:35:56] That whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
[00:36:02] That Jesus provides the light.
[00:36:05] That Jesus is the light. That Jesus is the one who accomplished everything that God said He would do. That he is the One who secured our salvation.
[00:36:14] That he is the One who will keep us.
[00:36:18] That he is the one who stands at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us and says, I paid the price for them to come into your presence.
[00:36:28] That he accomplishes it for us and that he will bring us home.
[00:36:33] For none that the Father has given to me will be lost.
[00:36:39] That he keeps watch, that he is the light of the world and gives light to us that we might not walk in darkness.
[00:36:51] So let me bring this all to a conclusion.
[00:36:55] We see a shadow.
[00:36:58] The author of Hebrews does this pretty well for us, that we see a shadow.
[00:37:03] As the author of Hebrews talks about these different furniture, instruments and things like that. And he says, I actually don't have time to get into all of that stuff. And so he kind of glosses over it. And he spends all of his time talking about Jesus, of how Jesus is the better intercessor for us. Jesus is the better mediator, Jesus is the better sacrifice. That Jesus has accomplished everything that. That all of these instruments in the tabernacle were pointing us to catch this God desired to dwell in the midst with his people.
[00:37:38] And so he told them to build a tent in order that he could dwell in a sanctuary, a holy place with his people.
[00:37:47] We get to the New Testament, there's no tent, there's no tabernacle, there's no temple.
[00:37:54] Jesus said that was torn down.
[00:37:57] But he says that your heart is his dwelling place.
[00:38:04] He says, I desire to dwell in the midst of my people, that they might be holy, a sanctuary for me to dwell and live, to speak in. And through them, that they might be a kingdom of priests for me. That they might speak the wisdom of God, the words of God, that they might be a light, as Jesus is a light to them. That they might bring nutrition and provisions for people around them as Jesus has provided for them. That their life would just be an act of worship, of generosity out of the overflow of what he's poured in.
[00:38:49] It's all symbolism which points us forward that God desires to dwell among his people.
[00:38:58] So the challenge for us is that we would be a kingdom of priests. Not having to carry a tent around with tables and an ark and a big 75 pound lampstand, but that everywhere we go we might carry forward the presence of God dwelling in the midst of his people.
[00:39:22] Would you pray with me?
[00:39:28] With the fact that a holy God can dwell with sinful people? We are reminded that that is only accomplished by the work of Christ.
[00:39:39] We're reminded that it's only by your blood that was shed on the cross as a propitiation, the mercy seat for our sins, Lord, that we might live our lives in response to that having been set free.
[00:39:56] That we might live our lives holy and obedient to you, not in order to earn your approval, but because we have it as a response to the grace which you have poured out on us.
[00:40:08] Lord, Would you help us to be a people that image that forth, just like the temple, image forth your character, that we would be a people that image forth your character to those around us, Lord? Would you help us to do that? To turn away from sin, to turn away from the lies of this world, Lord, to pursue you, to dwell in your presence, to believe you that you will keep your word, that you keep watch over keeping your word, and that you have provided everything we need. We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
